Trade secrets are a nasty thing. I went to work for a competitor and my previous employer served notice that I was not to talk to past customers, solicit them or any anyway speak against my past employer.
If aumann's mailing list was used or if current clients were solicited to use Matthews services, he could be in trouble. The thought behind the law is that while employed at Aumman they paid for those 'leads' and using them for his personal gain is a no no. Not saying that is what happened just putting some context around the sour grapes.
Now we all should not (but we will) speculate about the various agreements in place between the two parties but I am sure the courts will.
I like the idea about reaching out to aumman individually and sharing our disdain for the lawsuit however at this point unless they received communication from 70% or more of their clients it probably will have little effect. Aumman most likely has written off the gas and oil collectors and is now just looking for $$ damages.
In the end who will prevail? Not many, perhaps the lawyers...
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Scott Wright-
http://www.frontrangegas.com/powerine.htm
